When I Write: Philip Hoare

Pen or computer? (Material) 

Starting in a notebook or scraps of paper, gradually accumulating to ever-expanding screeds on my laptop…

Sitting or standing? (Pose)

… which is pulled over my bed, where I write.

Morning or evening? (Time)

From five am onwards… never in the afternoon or evening

Punctual or fitful? (Time-keeping) 

Obsessively, when at home, to time, stopping to swim, eat breakfast, lunch, nap, swim, correspond, eat, read and sleep at exactly the same time every day

At home or away? (Venue) 

Where ever, but best at home, on a dark morning before the sun has risen

Hours or words? (Unit of productivity) 

Hours, but more usually minutes…

Smart or casual? (Dress) 

Well, I am in – or on – my bed.

Feed or starve? (Fuel) 

Food and drink at school-like regular intervals

Stimulated or sedate? (Substance) 

Ah, goodbye to all that…

Sound or silence? (Ambience) 

The white noise of my tinnitus

Interruption or distraction? (Nemesis) 

Rooibos tea, ginger biscuits, robins on my window sill, Bowie on YouTube, the gulls calling me from the shore…

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